THE PRESIDENCY: Battle Stations

Everything was ready. From Rangoon to
Honolulu, every man was at battle stations. And Franklin Roosevelt had
to return to his. This was the last act of the drama.

The U.S. position had the simple clarity of a stone wall. One nervous
twitch of a Japanese trigger finger, one jump in any direction, one
overt act, might be enough. A vast array of armies, of navies, of air
fleets were stretched now in the position of track runners, in the
tension of the moment before the starter's gun.